The Arizona Diamondbacks are confused. They don’t know if they’re in it or out of it. They still have a chance to win the division if Randy Johnson pitches well down the stretch. LA leads the division and Arizona are 3.5 games out in the division and only 2.5 out in the wildcard. But their GM is calling around and letting everyone know Livan Hernandez is available.

Hernandez hasn’t been good since his Expos days and I mean Expos, not Nationals. In his two years there he compiled 17 complete games. That’s a lot when in his career he’s thrown 43 CGs. Dan Graziano is at it again, and he says that the Braves, Mets and Mariners expressed interest. Hernandez seems like the better Shane Reynolds, the former Astros and Braves pitcher. Hernandez is quite durable, even if his ERA isn’t what it should be, but then again his prime years were in Montreal. He can easily give 210+ innings. Quality of those innings is another story.

Ken Rosenthal begs to differ, and he says the Braves and Mets aren’t interested. These rivals seem to be connected to every starter this year à la Yankees-Red Sox.

To view Hernandez’s Yahoo! Sports stats, click here

Apparently the Braves aren’t staying put with Julio Franco and Wilfredo Ledezma as their mid-season acquisitions. Dan Graziano of the NJ Star-Ledger reports that the Braves are currently trying to trade for CJ Wilson, who many thought was the closer for the future. His career ERA suggests otherwise though, but he’s been good this year and has quite a few years left before reaching free agency.

Greinke…what more can we say about him? The Braves “expressed interest” as did the Cubs, Dbacks and Dodgers, but that could be just a pipedream to see what Kansas GM would want from the Braves, after all, he learnt from John Schuerholz.

It seems as though Reggie Sanders loves to move from city-to-city. The guy has played for 8 teams and soon he could be playing for his 9th. There is talk of the Red Sox replacing their 4th outfielder Wily Mo Pena but the question is with whom?

There’s a good article from Rob Bradford of the Boston Herald. In it, Sanders said he would welcome a trade to the Red Sox. Sanders has been injured this year, but in the 18 games he’s played, he’s hitting .377 with a .450 OBP in 53 at-bats. Compare that with Wily Mo Pena who is hitting .210 with a .279 OBP in 124 at-bats.

Could the Royals trade Sanders straight up for Pena? Pena should do well if he gets a chance to play everyday, and his salary is pretty low and he’s still in his arbitration years. In fact, his salary this year is less than the remainder of Sanders’ salary for the season.

To view Reggie Sanders Yahoo! Sports stats, click here

The good folks at the New York Post- Joel Sherman and Mike Puma- state that the Yankees are trying to trade for Wilson Betemit.

Betemit isn’t too good this year hitting .221, but he has power and a high OBP. He still strikes out a lot, way too much, but he’s increased his walks the past few years. Personally, Betemit should be given a job as a starter. The guy has been around awhile and even exceeded expectations after he was written off as a top prospect. Sherman and Puma think the Yankees are revisiting the Betemit talks from last year, which would have resulted in Betemit being traded for Scott Proctor. Of course we all remember who had Betemit at the time: the Braves. The Braves ended up trading Betemit to the Dodgers for Danys Baez and Willy Aybar, both of whom turned out to be “bleh”. Aybar is AWOL with some personal problems and Baez signed with the Orioles.

Betemit could spend time at first with Giambi and Mientkiewicz out of action. To view Betemit’s Yahoo! Sports Stats, click here.

Dayton Moore must think he’s still in Atlanta. Some baseball pundits will tell you that everybody in a baseball organization, once past a certain level in administration, offers their trade advice. Dayton Moore probably offered suggestions to John Schuerholz when the former was still with the Braves. The only difference now, is that Moore is actually saying his suggestions out loud. One example is Matt Kemp or James Loney for Octavio Dotel. That right there is a sign of insanity.

But the rumor is true. That sounds like an oxymoron doesn’t it. Bob Dutton of the Kansas City Star suggests that it is true. The Dodgers will be out of their mind to do a trade like this, not only because Kemp and Loney will be stars one day, but because Dotel isn’t really worth either. Shoot for the moon right?

Dotel’s numbers as a closer are not great, but they are great as a setup man.The problem is that he wants to close and is often injured. How will he fit in with the Dodgers plans?

ESPN reports that the Cubs traded for Athletics catcher Jason Kendall. This means that officially the Cubs have no plans for the future…seriously. Many wondered why the Cubs traded Michael Barrett when there was no viable option to replace him at catcher. The obvious reason for trading him was the spat with Big-Z.

Still, the acquisition of Kendall means a lot of salary that either the A’s or the Cubs will assume. The A’s are always strapped for cash. In the deal, the A’s get catcher Rob Bowen and minor league pitcher Jerry Blevins. Bowen was acquired in the Barrett trade with San Diego.

Yahoo! Sports reports that the Cubs also get cash in the deal.
The Cubs basically traded Michael Barrett for Kendall, Blevins and cash. How much cash would you pay to have Kendall off your ballclub? Blevins is has closer potential which explains the A’s interest in him with Huston Street on the DL since May 13.

These moves mean that Piazza could spend some time behind the place for Oakland and also get more at-bats for Cust and Johnson. The A’s must be laughing at the Cubs right now.

The Tigers traded pitcher and part-time brawler Roman Colon to the Royals for a PTBNL. Colon was actually charged with assault after breaking several bones in Jason Karnuth’s face. Karnuth was trying to separate Colon from fighting with another teammate.

Talk about buying low on the part of the Royals. Colon played for the Braves while Royals GM Dayton Moore was a part of the Braves administration for a number of years which probably explains the connection

I don’t understand the obsession with Jermaine Dye. He’s only had a couple seasons to write home about. This is an old rumor but the rumor mill reports that the Mets are interested in Dye.

When I looked at his career numbers, they reminded me of a player from the past…Raul Mondesi. After a quick looksee, I was right. Jermaine Dye’s number are very similar to Mondesi’s. The only differences are that Mondesi came into the league about 2 pro-rated seasons before Dye, Mondesi was a base-stealer and he never drove in 100 RBI’s. Dye on the other hand, isn’t a base-stealer but he drove in 100 RBI’s a few times.

To view Dye’s numbers click here, and to view Mondesi’s numbers click here.

Their career numbers are from their Yahoo! Sports profile pages.

The Mets designated Julio Franco for assignment today. Franco did little for the Mets this year, starting in 7 of the 87 games played and hitting .130 in those starts and .200 including pinch-hit appearances.

The Mets GM summed it up best when he said “Julio feels he can play.” Ouch. (That’s my spin on it, but Minaya did say that).

To fill the roster spot, the Mets called up Lastings Milledge. This is probably the Mets trying to showcase Milledge for a trade.

Also, the Mets signed Marlon Anderson to a minor-league contract after he was released by the Dodgers on July 9. This is Anderson’s second stint with the Mets.

I got wind of the Dontrelle Willis rumors yesterday, but I decided not to post it since we’ve been hearing about teams asking about him for the last 2 years. But now that Griffey talk has come up, I decided to kill two birds with one stone.

The mill reports that Willis may be Seattle bound.  It could be a good move for Seattle depending on which Dontrelle decides to come to the party: the Cy Young contender of 2005, or the wayward hurler from 2006-2007. Even so, it may be hard for Dontrelle in the AL West. Not only is he moving from about 7.5 outs to 9 outs per lineup, the division alone is competitive.

As for Griffey Jr, sad to say the Mariners have not expressed interest in bringing him back, at least not this year. The Cincinnati Enquirer says that the team recently asked Griffey to shoot down a rumor that he was going to the Brewers…the Brewers? Looks as though Griffey isn’t going anywhere for now, since the two teams believed to be on Griffey’s wishlist-Atlanta and the Cubs- are allergic to assuming big contracts during the season.